CARMEL – With the criminal case against Putnam District Attorney Adam Levy's friend over, it remains unclear how the rift it created between Levy and Sheriff Donald B. Smith will affect the relationship between the county's two top lawmen.

"The Sheriff's Office and District Attorney's Office cannot functionally coordinate," State Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, said in a statement Thursday after the verdict was announced. "The current environment is toxic and dangerous to justice itself. Elected officials of clear mind, and on both sides of the aisle, have asked for an independent, ethical intervention. We still ask for that assistance."

Smith, a former Army brigadier general, and Levy, the son of TV's "Judge Judy," had clashed over procedural issues before. But the space between the men became a chasm in March 2013 when sheriff's investigators charged Alexandru Hossu with rape and Smith issued a press release that said Hossu lived at Levy's Southeast home.

Hossu was Levy's former personal trainer and frequent overnight guest at Levy's home.

Levy accused Smith of issuing false information and filed a $5 million defamation suit against Smith last August. Levy claims Smith slandered him by releasing statements that tied Levy to Hossu and accused Levy of interfering in the rape investigation.

Levy said Hossu, who is in the country illegally from Romania, was living elsewhere and that Smith had to know. But Smith said his release was based on Hossu's driver's license and information he gave to the judge who arraigned him after his March 2013 arrest.

Levy on Thursday referred questions to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case after Levy recused himself.

In a statement Thursday, Smith said he respected the jury's decision but did not comment on his relationship with Levy.

Professor Bennett Gershman of the Pace University Law School said he didn't know if the jury's decision would worsen the relationship between the two.

"The relationship is already so strained so I don't know if it will add fuel to a fire that's already raging," he said. "I imagine Levy is happy with the outcome and that Smith said he respected the jury's decision."

Levy drew criticism after it was reported that he inserted himself into the Hossu case after claiming he had stepped aside. Ball said Levy still had to answer for his actions.

"We still have a conflicted District Attorney who allowed an illegal alien to live in his home. Beyond that simple fact, the allegations of conflict against Levy are startling," Ball said.